I didn’t really like this book, but I persisted with it because I want to keep reading the series. I thought the previous Serpent War book Shadow of a Dark Queen was weak, but this book was weaker. The book follows the rise of Roo as a merchant, and is improbable at best — Roo’s wealth is generated by cornering the food market for Krondor and I see weaknesses in the analysis there — surely the Duke wouldn’t allow such a manipulation of the market when it harms his citizens, why weren’t there food riots when the cost of basic staples jumped to record levels overnight? Basically, it just doesn’t seem believable to me.
The sequence at the panthian lair on the other hand is much better, and the best bit of the book. Its a pity it is only about 50 pages long.
[isbn: 0006497012;0071001007992;0380720876]